Friday, April 3, 2015

More Cautious Predictions

I was cleaning up my computer and I found this....not sure when I wrote it but not that long ago.

1) % of GDP represented by gov spending will go up
2) Wide gap between promised benefits and what you get
3) Prices for things will go up, but not across board evenly, more and more things will debut in Europe / Asia before they get here
4) More fees, taxes, gov might float confiscating 401K's to "protect you".
5) Tangible assets will grow in value way above inflation rate
6) Moves to make it harder to expat with your resources
7) Less small business, more gov / business partnerships
8) Wealth inequity will grow and grow, regardless of who is in office
9) Push to make driving / freedom of movement harder (taxes by the mile, expense)
10) Greater generational divide in wealth and opportunity (gen y sucked)
11) Greater surveillance and use of para military forces
12) Illiteracy and lack of even basic math skills from gov schools
13) More "gated" communities and more slums (Detroit coming to more places)
14) More pot holes, water quality less, brown outs
15) More draconian licensing fees for dogs, cats
16) Less good paying jobs, greater reliance on food stamps / subsidies, many work no job or 2 or 3 jobs
17) College participation will go down, and higher percentage of women then men by growing margins in traditional college
18) More checkpoints
19) Increasing soft persecution of dissidents and undesirables (background checks of social media)
20) Harder to legally own firearms
21) Gonna be lot's of international conflict in which US / West is retreating, will affect value of dollar and trade, some shortages of items and cost of things will fluxuate, plus anxiety in USA will go up.
22) Medical bankruptcies still a #1 reason ppl will go bankrupt, and it will get worse.

Should I bail (Expat)
1) Is your income still US based, and what would that mean if USD declines dramatically?
2) Do you have a network of support?
3) Would world events cause resentment towards Americans? Will you stick out?
4) Do you need to travel into and out of USA a lot? Taxes a pain.
5) Police state has a far reach...
6) US was gauranteer of security in much of the western world, will be very unreliable, you will be even more on your own. Might want to live in areas where regional hegemon projects stability.